STOP10 Apr 2017: 'Pop Aye' by Kirsten Tan

Premiering as the opening night film at
Sundance, Singapore’s first ever entry into the competition, Pop Aye is a humanistic, charming, off
beat road movie full of odd encounters with eclectic characters.It finally comes home to Singaporea screens
in Golden Village cinemas on the 13th of April.

With the interesting hook involving transporting an
elephant from Bangkok to the countryside, the movie should not be a hard sell, especially when the titular
character is one of its main stars and transcends quickly into a symbol of a past
that plagues our protagonist, Thana. (Thaneth Warakulnukroh)

Thana is introduced to us in his darkest
days, as a man who has lost his purpose in life, where everything he achieved
is now being replaced. His younger boss is taking over his architectural
projects as well as tearing down his main achievement, a shopping complex he had
designed years ago. It is to be replaced by a larger and extremely phallic
metallic building. To add salt into the wounds, the superstructure is named
Eternity. At home too he feels replaced, finding his exasperated wife’s hidden
vibrator and later pushes away his awkward and cringe worthy sexual advances.

Wandering through Bangkok, a place he had
yearned for in his younger days, he spots an old elephant he believes to be Pop Aye, a childhood companion back in
his youth on the family farm. His reconnection to this kindred spirit – an
out-of-place and forsaken animal – changes his life as Thana decides to bring Pop Aye all the way back to his village
in Loei, where he believes it belongs. Thus sparks one of the most endearing
and affecting adventures directed by a Singaporean filmmaker.

We are then thrust full on into the journey
of Pop Aye, which takes a riskier but
definitely more engaging route with its non-linear editing. Tan has some fun
with the formula of a traditional voyage, passing back and forth loosely in
time and ends with a film that is circumambulatory and karmic in many respects.
The films’ insistent theme of inescapable progression of time becomes much
stronger for this choice. Furthermore, injected with some black humor and lined
with a boisterous score by Matthew James Kelly and sound design by Ting Li Lim,
the expedition feels vast, well paced and never a drag.

Personally however, the most interesting
and unique moments, come from the simplest scenes loaded with unexpected
spells of surrealism that lifts the film with added vitality and depth. They
are forceful and leave a lasting impression.

None of this really particularly matters if
we were not invested in the characters of course, but Thana is instantly easy
to sympathize with from the very beginning. His despair is practically palpable
and on his protracted journey, he brings a sense of vulnerability as he
repeatedly jumps out from the frying pan and into the fire.

As much trouble he gets himself mixed up
in however, the film rarely turns into something overtly comical nor grim and
is outstandingly good natured and warm. While he runs into the panoply of interesting
characters that he meets, Thana in a saint-like manner, manages to leave something
positive unto each and everyone of them in their own special way. So often, a failing of such road movies is
when the protagonists feel too inactive, allowing events on their journey to
simply happen to them, yet Thana equally reciprocates to the strangers he
meets.

They unsurprisingly are much like Thana
himself - an outsider and misfit like most of Tan’s characters. They too are
largely past their prime and replaced in some way. Dee (Chaiwat Khumdee), a
haggard hippie living in a disused gas station, ready and waiting to die to be
reunited with his brother in heaven is an early stranger he meets who becomes
deeply changed and returns later in the film. Another character is Jenni
(Yukontorn Sukkijja) an ageing transgender singer, working at a ramshackle
roadside bar, who helps him on his way whilst also bringing some playful sexual
tension.

There is also not a real antagonist here
and no true opposing set of characters. Thana’s wife, Bo (Penpak Sirikul) is
disapproving of his actions, but most of us could not possibly blame a woman
for freaking out when she finds that her husband had bought an elephant off the
street and into their home. Nor are the two police officers that he runs into
bad people. They dealt more in low-grade unpleasantness than actual villainy.

Much of this comes from the complexities
given to each character than a failure of the screenwriting, shifting focus
much more on Thana’s internal struggle. The scenes allow things to unfold,
sometimes languidly and in unexpected ways but with a human focus. Tan here proves
her strength as an expert chronicler of quiet human dissatisfaction and
frustration. There are no melodramatic performances and even after surmounting
their various obstacles to reach their final destination, there is no simple
and conventional resolution that one would expect, like the realisation that
the modest life in the countryside had always been better than the metropolis
they had attempted escaping.

Instead the inevitable and relentless march
of modern development still touches Thana’s old home and everything becomes
replaceable with little remorse or sentiment. It is not a cathartic and simple answer
but proves a cautionary message, as Thana soon realizes coming back to where
you started is not the same as never leaving.

The film has and leaves the viewer with
warmth and in spite of the titular elephant in the room, a genuine love for
people. There is a great captivation to be found in the lives of these
characters, even with the most minor of them. Overall Pop Aye is generously insightful and serves to shed some light on
inexorableness of time upon society and existence.